The present invention relates to an improved urine flow control system of the type involving the use of a magnetic valve body and magnetic actuator device, and to a magnetic actuator device for use in said system.
Incontinence is the inability of any of the physical organs to restrain discharges of their contents; in the present context, incontinence is considered the involuntary discharge or evacuation of urine. This could e.g. be during movement, such as jumping, or when sneezing or laughing where persons suffering from incontinence experience problems.
Persons suffering from incontinence are often compelled to wear a pad for collecting urine being discharged from the urethra. In addition, persons suffering from incontinence may experience that the discharge of urine causes unwanted odours, which may cause the person to feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. Therefore, there is a need for a device hindering uncontrolled discharge of urine.
Some persons, on the other hand, have problems emptying their bladder. This may be due to low detrusor activity, which is associated to neurological or myogenic conditions. It may also be due to patient age factors, medication or bladder outlet obstruction. Such patients insert catheters when emptying the bladder. Either they catheterize themselves, have nurses perform the catheterization, or they carry a catheter permanently.
Such patients may be helped by wearing a urine flow control system with a valve catheter, as this can eliminate the need for catheterization every time the bladder needs emptying.
US patent application 2001/0034470 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,199 show examples of prior art urine flow control systems or incontinence device, both involving a conduit for urethral installment as well as a magnetic actuator device allowing a user to control urine discharge. A user may control discharge of urine by manually holding the actuator device in the form of an actuator magnet close to the distal end of the conduit outside the urethra. In the prior art the actuator magnet is also referred to as a “portable activating magnet” which is configured to be placed in a pocket, a pocket book, or which can be formed in a decorative shape to be worn on a necklace or bracelet for convenient access. It may even be formed for retention in a key chain or as part of a ring.
One aspect of general importance to a user of an incontinence device is that discharge of urine should be possible to carry out in a highly hygienic manner. The fact that the prior art actuator magnet is hand held involves the risk that the user will soil herself as the actuator magnet is held close to the valve body, and this may be seen as a problem with those prior art catheter devices that have a magnetically actuatable drainage control valve.
The present invention aims at solving this problem and, hence, to increase the user-convenience experienced with the particular type of urine flow control systems referred to above which for many reasons would be expected to be more popular than non-magnetic catheter devices, such as those having a urine discharge conduits with a valve that must be squeezed manually to open it.
Broadly, the aforementioned problems are solved with a system and a magnetic actuator device as claimed. Preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.